GENBAND: New name, new products

GENBAND Inc. (formerly General Bandwidth) has introduced a line of call control and signaling gear based on the red hot IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) architecture.

The latest products to join the GENBAND family include the C2 Signaling Controller and the S4 Applications Server. They complement the company's flagship product, the G6 Universal Media Gateway, which some cable operators - including RCN Corp. and Videotron -- are using to deliver IP telephony services in the access network in tandem with a traditional Class 5 circuit switch. The G6 can also be used in pure play VoIP environments.

The C2 features SIP to SS7 and media gateway control capabilities.

The S4, meanwhile, is designed to send SIP-based services over IP-based networks, while also providing traditional Class 5 features for residential and small business applications. It can also help migrate legacy TDM networks to those that can handle IMS-based services, the company said.

With the S4, GENBAND has essentially also entered the softswitch market. In the PacketCable 1.x architecture, the S4 performs as the architecture's call management server (CMS). The evolving PacketCable 2.0 spec will support IMS.

At its core, the emerging IMS platform is designed to handle IP-based services over multiple broadband access technologies, including cable, wireline and wireless (WiFi, WiMAX, etc.).

IMS is growing "increasingly important as an architecture of the future," noted GENBAND Vice President of Marketing Jody Bennett.

The company name change is not a huge leap, as the term "Genband" has been used to describe the company for several years, as has its Web URL, Bennett noted.

In other corporate-related news, GENBAND has moved its headquarters from Austin to Plano, Texas.